The story of Taj Mahal is inseparable from the life of Mumtaz Mahal who was the chief queen of Shahjahan. Prince Khurram, as Shahjahan was known before he became the Mughal emperor. He was a handsome twenty-year-old man, when he was betrothed to Mumtaz.

Prince Khurram had been married twice before he met and married Mumtaz Mahal. Mumtaz bore him 13 children and accompanied him wherever he went. Soon after Taj Mahal's completion, Shah Jahan was deposed and put under house arrest at nearby Agra Fort by his son Aurangzeb.

He spent the remainder of his days gazing at the Taj Mahal from the jail. Upon Shah Jahan's death, Aurangzeb buried him in the Taj Mahal next to his wife. By late 19th century, parts of Taj Mahal had fallen badly into disrepair.

Protective wartime
scaffolding during the time of Indian rebellion of 1857, Taj Mahal faced defacement by British soldiers and government officials, who chiseled out precious stones and lapis lazuli from its walls. At the end of 19th century British viceroy Lord Curzon ordered a massive restoration project, completed in 1908. He also commissioned the large lamp in interior chamber,
modeled based on one in a Cairo mosque. It was during this time the garden was
remodeled with British looking lawns that are visible today.

In 1942, the government erected a scaffolding in anticipation of an air attack by German Luftwaffe and later by Japanese Air Force. During the India-Pakistan wars of 1965 and 1971, scaffoldings were erected to mislead bomber pilots. Its recent threats came from environmental pollution on the banks of Yamuna
river and Mathura Oil refinery.